Google invested $50 million to fund Made with Code, a program that aims to encourage young girls to pursue a career in the field of computer science.
Made in Code's creators envisioned bringing in young girls to start careers in the IT industry by making coding projects that would appeal to them, such as an introductory coding project that allows the girls to design their own bracelet via Shapeways. They can also learn how to make simple GIFs and create their own music tracks.
CEO of Google's YouTube, Susan Wojcicki wrote about this new initiative in a Google blog post. She announced that the project involved Chelsea Clinton, Girl Scouts of the USA, MIT Media Lab, SevenTeen, Mindy Kaling, National Center for Women and Information, and many other figures and organizations.
Wojcicki shared that the inspiration behind the project came from her own desire to get her daughter interested in the field of IT.
"So, I decided to launch a campaign at home-connecting my daughter to coding resources, increasing my encouragement and introducing her to other girls interested in computer science," she wrote.
The project also creates videos featuring women who used coding in the jobs that they love to do. One of the videos features Miral, a famous hip-hop dancer and choreographer who performs in different places across the country. Another video starred Erica, who is a humanitarian working to fight malaria. Danielle, an animator at Pixar who helped bring Merida and Nemo to life, was also featured in one of the videos, eWeek reported.
Google expects to see more women in this field after a few years, in hopes that the additions address the issue that the company favored male applicants over females after publishing its workforce diversity report, which revealed that only 30 percent of the workforce were females.
